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sept. z. 1924. Re. 15,90 L. G. COPEMAN REFRIGERATOR LATCH Original Filed Dec. 26, 1922 INVENTOR. [aw/n42; LL; 5%

. A TTORNEV.

,either on a ri i that bears the roll *dle r 4...... Sept. 2, 1924.

ori inal 1'... 1,489,981,

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, LLoYn G. COPEMAN,

a citizen of the United States, and a resident of 'Flint, GeneseeCounty, Michigan, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Refrigerator Latches, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to refrigerator latches and has for its object a reversible ght or left hand door,

It is the ob ect of the present invention to afiord a refrigerator latch which works on the principle of a so-called' cam latch and yet which has some of the features of a spring latchso that the door can be thrown closed. The latch will latch automatically and hold the doorclosed. By pressing on the latch lever the door canbe clglsed even tighter to make an air tight Se v y e casing and the latch lever are'so designed that when the latch lever is in the final position of closing the casing is tightly sealed to avoid admission of dirt to the make the latch somewhat unsanitary.

In the drawings: Fig. 1 is a fragmentary front elevation of a refri erator showing the latch in place. Fig. 2 1s a front elevation of the latch. Fig. 3 is a view of the underside of the latch shown in Fig. 2 showing in dotted lines the osition assumed when the door is merely t rown shut.

Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic view of the cam action.

a designates a plate or supporting-member secured to tion which is adapted-to support a pivot pin d. On this pivot pin is rotatably supported the lever e. This'lever in turnsupports rotatably the roll f which forms the strikinghsurface of the lever. An expansion spr' is contained in a hollowed out casormed at the rear of the yoke and serves to abut against the apron i which is unintegral part of the lever e; The arm f, together with the hanrtion .7 of the lever, forms a bell lever. The handle forms the power arm of this lever while the loadarm is a double one, one portion of which carries the roll that the striker while the refrigerator latch-one that may be used inside of the casing, which might otherwise the door by screws 12 andin the form of a casting, having a yoke porthermore,

UNITE STATES PATENT OFFICE.-

\ LLOYD e. constant, or rum, MICHIGAN.

-BEFBIGEBAT6B LATCH.

dated Apr11 8, 1924, Serial- !l'o. 608,883.11 December 26', 1922. Application for reissue filed June 28, 1924. Serial No. 721,946.

other portion'forms the apron and a spring abutment. The striker g has a face that has a slightly reversed curve. The purpose of this is, that whenthe door is slammed shut the initial impact of the roll against the striker is not great due to the fact that the striking sur face has a very small angle with respect to the line of thetravel of the roll, However, after the roll has traveled a slight distance along the striker, this angle increases due to the turn in the curve.- The roll is then forced,back against the resistance of .the spring 71. until it passes over the point of t e striker and drops behind the striker.

When the door is slammed shut thelever will take the position shown by the dotted lines '.in Fig.5. That is, the roll will just 4 drop behind the point of the striker. This will hold the door closed but not as tightly as it may be. Now referring to Fig. 4, the action of the cam latch feature .is diagrammed in detail. When the door is slammed shut the lever will take the position as shown.8

in full lines, the roller positioned as shown.

The lever j is then pushed further down shown 1n Fig. 4, by the dotted lines, causingthe doorto be tightly closed making it substantially an air tight seal. The spring it retains the roller in this position and consequ'ently retainsthe door in the tightly closed position.

It will be noted'that the same movement that disengages the roll from the striker. may also when the lever is pushed down to its innermost position serve to pull the latch open. 'Furthe apron i closes the front of the latch casing while the body-k of the lever closes the face of the latch casing, thereby substantially .eiicluding dust from entering the casing-and the lock be coming unsanitary.

It will be seen that the latchjn its action is an automatic "spring latch in one sense and also a cam latch. In its initial --automatic closing feature it is a spring lever latch. In the final closingoperation it is a cam latch.

One of the important features of the preloo locks against any opening of the door from a thrust originating on the inside of the door. It is therefore, an admirable lock for an ice chamber. So many of the locks which 'areon the market and which. are ca able of latching action are not roof against unlocking when the ice fal s against the icev chamber door.

It will be noted that when the striking roll f is ushed into its innermost osition shown in ig. 3, the center of this ro passes over a line perpendicular to the face of the refrigerator and passingv through the fulcrum of the roll. Hence, a thrust originating onthe inside of the door instead of tending to disen ageitheioll from behind the striker g wilf drive the roll all the further into the socket behind the striker g by reason of the center of theroll lying over this rpendicular line.

at I claim is:

1. In a refrigerator latch, the combination,

of a latch support, a striker provided with a striker socket behind the striking surface, and a swinging latch member which when forced to its locking position passes over a line perpendicular to the face of the refrigerator and passing through the fulcrum point of the latch.

2. In a refrigerator latch, the combina-.

tion of a latch support, a' striker provided with a striker socket behind the striking surface, and a latch lever pivotally supported on the su port so that the strikin surface of the EltCh lever when forced ome into the striker socket passes over a line perpendioular to the front of the refrigerator passing through the'fulcrum of the lever.

3. In a refrlgerator latch, thecombination of a latch supfiort, swinging latch lever member pivota y supported on said sup ort and arranged to swing in the plane in w ich the door opens, and a striker provided with a striker socket behind the striking surface of the same,.the fulcrum of the lever being arranged with respect to the striker so that. when the striking surface of the lever is forced home in the striker socket, the same passes over a line perpendicular to the front of the refrigerator passing through'the fulcrum ofthe lever.

4. In a refrigerator latch, the combination of a latch support, a bell-crank like latch lever pivotally supported on the latch support, and a striker provided with a striker socket behind the striking surface of same,

the fulcrum of the bell crank latch lever being arranged with respect to the striker so that when the striking surface of the lever I of a latch support, a latch lever of the bellcrank type pivotally supported on the latchsupport, a striker provided with a striker socket behind the striking surfaceof same, and a spring tending to swin the latch lever into the striker socket, t e fulcrum of" the latch lever being so arranged with respect to the striker that when the striking surface of the latch lever. is forced home "into the striker socket, the same passes over a line perpendicular to the front of the refrigerator passing through the fulcrum of the lever.

. ranged to swing in a plane in which the door swings and arranged so that when the striking surface of the lever is forced home into the striking socket, the same swings over a line perpendicular ts the front of the refrigerator passing through the fulcrum of the lever. j

7. In a refrigerator latch, the combination of a latch housing, a latch lever of the bellcrank type ivotally sup orted on the latch housing an having a IOlFCOIIIIBCtEd-Wlth its end, and a striker having a sloping surface and a striker socket behind said sloping surface, the roll adapted to first engage the surface of the striker and then engage behind the same in the striker socket, the latch lever swinging in the same plane that the door swings.

8. In a refrigerator latch, the combination of a latch housing, a bell-crank latch member pivotally supported in .theflatch housing and tendin to be forced outwardly, a sprin for forcing the same outwardly, and a stri er having a sloping striking face and a striker socket behind the same, the said latch lever arranged to swing in the same lane that the door swingsand arranged to have a strikin surface en a e the face of the strikeran then drop iefiind the same into the striker'socket. v

9. In a. refrigerator latch, the combination of a latch housing, a bell-crank lever pivotally sup orted thereon to swing in the same plane t at the-door opens. and provided at one endof the bell-crank arm with a roller, a spring. thrusting on one arm of the bell crank lever for; forcing the latch lever yieldingly outward, and a striker rovided with a sloping face behind'whic is a striker socket, said roll arranged to strike the sloping surface of the striker and drop into the socket behind.

10. In a refri erator latch, the combina- I ousing, a bell crank lever tion of a latch pivotally supported thereon to swing in the same plane that the door swings and pro- "ided with an additional arm, a ring in said housing engaging against said additional arm and tending to thrust said-lever outwardly from said housing, a roll on the end of one of the bell crank arms of the lever, and a striker having a slopin front face behind which is the striker socEet, the

said roll arranged to engage the face of the striker and drop into the socket behind.

11. A refrigerator latch, having in combination a latch lever pivotally supported to swin toward and away from the door in the p ane in which the door swings, a striker engaging member controlled by said lever when moving in either direction, .a striker provided with .two substantially vertical surfaces when mounted adjacent a door swinging in a horizontal plane said two surfaces inclining toward each other at an angle, a spring tending to thrust the striker engaging member outwardly and a handle portion of the lever toward the door, the strikerengaging surface and the parts being arranged so that the striker-engaging member may engage first the outer surface of the striker, then throw over the point of the striker and engage part way up the inner surface of the striker which is inclined to the thrust of the striker-engaging member, whereby the inner surface of the striker may have a camming action with respect to the striker-engaging member so that the door may be tightly forced shut by pressing the handle toward the door, and whereby the fixture is both a right and left hand fixture.

12. A latch for refrigerators, having in combination a reversible fixture which may be applied to either a right or left hand door, a bell-crank lever pivotally supported by the fixture, an anti-friction roll movable in and out of the fixture and controlled by movement in either direction of the lever,

a spring whose thrust forces the roller outwardly and the handle of the lever toward the door, the said lever being arranged to swing toward and away from the door in the plane of the swing of the door, and a striker having an inner surface and an outer surface inclined toward each other and invertible to act as a fixture for either a right or left hand door, the afore-mentioned elements being arranged and positioned so that the spring may easily yield to permit the roll to throw over the point of the striker in closing the door, the inner surface of the striker being inclined to the thrust of the roller, whereby a further pushing of the lever handle toward the door causes the roll to ride up the inclined surface on the inside of the striker to force the door tightly closed.

13. A refrigerator latch, having in combination a bell-crank latch lever pivotally supported to swing toward and away from the door, a striker-eng 'ng member in the form of a roll controlle by said lever when moving in either direction, a striker 'provided with two surfaces inclining toward each other at amangle, and a spring tending to thrust the striker-engaging member outwardly and the handle portion'of the lever toward the door, the striker-engaging surface and the parts being arranged so that the roll may engage first the outer surface of the striker, then automatically throw over the point of the striker and engage part way up the innersurface of the striker whichis inclined to the thrust of the roll, whereby the inner surfacemay have a cammingtaction with respect to the striker engaging member so that the door may be tightly forced shut by pressing the handle toward the door.

In testimony whereof, I have aflixed my signature.

LLOYD G. COPEMAN. 

